Saturday 5 Feb– Koh Muk to Panwa Bali
Left at 6.30am & stopped at 11.30 to put Bob on board as he was slowing us down. Had a good sail day with intermittent motoring. Peter saw a sailfish break the water. We checked out the fishing island Ko Mai Thon but it was a very small anchorage so we kept going to Panwa Bali which is opposite Ao Chalong and anchored at 5.30pm next to Cilantro who rowed over for sundowners.
Sunday 6 Feb – Panwa Bali to Ko Racha Yai
Unanchored at 10am heading to Ko Racha Yai which was two hours away. It was a very rough trip over but we sailed all the way. A very pretty bay with crystal clear water but awash with tour boats. We anchored and waited till the tour boats left and then went ashore. Tied up to the floating jetty as it was too rocky to get to the beach. There is quite an exclusive resort so everything was expensive, even the beachside bars. As Peter was walking along the path a huge monitor lizard was ambling along in front of him. Apparently there are a lot on this island. We walked to the other side of the island where the bay is too shallow and rocky for boats to get in and there weren’t many people around but the beers were even more expensive. Came back just on dusk and ate a mediocre meal and then back to the boats.
Monday 7 Feb- Ko Racha Yai to Nai Harn
Upanchored at 10am and did a trolling run along the island to no avail (we haven’t caught a fish forever!!!!) and then headed to a very crowded Ao Chalong where we managed to squeeze in among the other yachts. We went to check in to Thailand while Cilantro went to retrieve their dinghy and motor, both of which had been in for repair. Got back to the boats about 3.30 and proceeded around the headland to Nai Harn where we anchored for the night quite close to Braveheart. We went in Cilantro’s dinghy to shore and had a lovely meal which was a little more expensive than usual but that is the difference between high season and low season (still cheap though!!). The waves were small but breaking so it was with trepidation that Dell got in the dinghy!! But we made it out without mishap!
Tuesday 8 February – Nai Harn to Ao Bang Tao
Departed at 8am for Patong – not much wind so motor sailed. We walked to the supermarket and then the wet market to get our supplies then caught a tuk tuk back. Got quite wet getting into Bob to go back to the boat but we are starting to get used to that again!!! We left at 3.30 and sailed to Ao Bang Tao arriving around 5.30. Braveheart and Mandolin Wind were anchored and invited us in to dinner but we had a quiet night on board.
Wednesday 9 February – Ao Bang Tao – Kao Lak
09°10’315N 098°18’476E
Left just after 8 and went around to Nai Yang Bay and said hullo to Wavesweeper and Single Malt who had just returned from where we are going and got some good information from them. Then we continued on up the coast – sailed most of the way with intermittent motoring. Arrived at Kao Lak around 5.30. It was a strange place to get into – lots of rocks - and we had an exhilarating moment when the water shallowed up and depths went all over the place – rocks underneath we think. Went a bit further north and nudged it in to 4m just off a little floating plastic jetty. Cilantro picked us up at 6.30 and we tied up at the jetty as the beach had quite a steep drop off to the water. To the left of the jetty were lots of resorts and to the right of the jetty were lots of little restaurants on the beach. While Patong is full of Russians this place seems to have a German influence and in fact we hope to meet up with Peter’s German cousin here on our return. We walked along the beach and inspected all the menus and came back to the first one which seemed to be the most popular. We asked to see the menu and he snatched them off a couple already seated and gave to us – we hoped they had finished with them!!! We were seated at a table on the beach. We had the loveliest tastiest meal. The boys went down to the water in the dark to “inspect the sea”. The English lady asked “are they inspecting the sea!” She didn’t really but you get my drift!!!! Anyway we got talking to her and her Dutch husband and they joined us at our table It was a very enjoyable evening with very good company and we had quite a laugh. When we went back the jetty was all lit up and it was very pretty.
Thursday 10 Feb – Kao Lak – Ban Pak Chok – Happy Birthday Patrick
09°10’315N 098°18’476E
We left at 8am. We headed back out the way we came in and even then cut a corner a bit fine!! Cilantro headed up the coast through the shallow water and were mostly in 2.5m. The sea was very calm and we motored all day though we did put up our mainsails in hope. We got to the entrance to the channel behind the island of Koh Phra Thong around 1pm. We dropped the mains and we suddenly went down to 2.1m under the keel and we could see the sandy bottom. Once we got into the channel it was deep water again. We motored all the way up the channel arriving at 3.30. It was quite a pretty trip between Koh Phra Thong and the mainland and we saw something that looked as though it may once have been a dirt bunker. Must look up some history on the place. An interesting day seeing places we have never been before. We anchored in 4.3m and had such a still night. The mossies came out so we locked ourselves below with a fan and watched part 1 of The Lord of the Rings.
Friday 11 Feb – Ban Pak Chok – Ko Phayam
09°43’587N 098°23’102E
Left at 8am and went down to 1.3m under the keel on the way out. Motored till the channel came out in the ocean and we sailed for three hours then motored for a while. Two large fishing boats passed us and as they got in front we could smell them – not nice! Dodged a few fish traps – some with flags, some escaped and floating and arrived at Koh Phayam at 3.30. We are now just 6 miles from the Burmese seaward border and around 15 miles from the land border. We are at a lovely island in a sheltered bay. The beach is very hard and motor bikes go up and down it but at the high water mark the sand is lovely and soft and white. There are lots of little restaurants along the beach so we walked half way along the beach and went to one (Joker) and had a beer but couldn’t get served again to order food. So we went to the restaurant next door and ordered two dishes between the four of us then went to Hornbills and ordered another two – beautiful food. Left to try the next restaurant (Froggy) but their kitchen closed at 10 and as it was now 9.30 it was closed! Went back to the Cuisine and had another two meals and the lady told us not many tourists come because there is no air con and no TV. We had noticed a whole stack of batteries so deduced there is only self generated power. We came out to the boat in the dark but couldn’t see or hear James and Sandra so went back in to check. On the way out they had run over the line to a little red boat which was on a buoy. James said to Sandra I think we are towing that boat and sure enough the line had attached itself to them !!! So they took the boat to shore and pulled it high up on the beach – we arrived in time to help. Not sure what the owner of the red boat will say when he finds it way up the beach but at least it’s safe! The beach actually dries a long way out so at low tide its quite a way.
Well we are on our way again on a journey to new places and it feels more like we have a purpose now. Give Jessie, Charlie and our little Rosie cuddles from us – we miss them.
Calm seas and fair winds
Dell and Peter
Sunday, February 13, 2011
Thursday, February 10, 2011
15 Jan to 4 Feb - Thailand/Malaysia
Saturday 15 Jan – Happy Birthday Kristen
We got up at 6.30 and went into the beach for a walk. Lots of people sleeping on the beach but nice and quiet and lovely to see it without the crowds. Left at 9.15 and sailed along nicely with the main and headsail - we think we have gained at least 1 – 2 knots in speed since having the boat painted. The deck used to be a pale grey but now it is white and we cant believe the difference it makes – we can actually stand on it now without it burning our feet – its fantastic. The only downside is white tends to get a bit dirty!! Sailed to Ao Chalong , shopped and had dinner at Took’s new restaurant which was a bit embarrassing as it was obvious she wasn’t ready to open yet but cooked us up a good meal anyway.
Sunday 16 Jan
Boat cleaning day getting ready for the survey we have to have on the boat before our insurance company will insure us again. Our insurance company – Yacht Sure set us adrift before Christmas and refused to cover us till we had the survey despite the fact we had paid for a year’s cover. We managed to get the third party reinstated but only after Christmas as no-one was at work. Made us wonder how hard/easy it would be to get help and make a claim! Went to the Anchor Inn for dinner – really good food.
Monday 17 Jan
Brett and I caught the bus to Phuket town – the bus is an open sided truck - and Peter picked up the surveyor. The survey took four hours and went well then Peter checked us all out of Thailand. Meanwhile Brett went to the physio and then we had a lovely lunch. Brett had squid stuffed with pork which turned out to be very nice and we wished we had taken a photo! All back on board, the weather came up a bit so Peter cooked a slap up meal and we ate on board.
Tuesday 18 Jan
We left Ao Chalong in strong winds and larger seas than we had seen in a while. The boys were fine but I went below succumbing to seasickness! The angle of the wind brought us in to Phi Phi Le but there were no spare buoys so just as we were turning away one of the boats dropped a mooring and the boys couldn’t believe their luck and picked it up immediately. We went for a snorkel as conditions were finally perfect! We saw the biggest school of parrot fish with other kinds mixed in and it was a great snorkel and a lovely evening.
Wednesday 19 Jan
Left Phi Phi Le around 9 and anchored at Ko Lanta after 12. We went ashore and found our little bar and the people remembered us from when we were there with Debbie and Phil. We were offered some snake whisky – same snakes in the bottle – they just keep topping up the whisky and so unhygenic!!! We passed on the offer. Had a swim then back to the boat and back in again for dinner. Another pleasant evening on the beach!
Thursday 20 Jan
Motor sailed to Ko Muk and then took Bob around to the Emerald cave. We managed to catch it with hardly any tourists in there. Then we went around the little rocky cove and had a swim. We have never managed to anchor here as there is always a boat in there and it is really only big enough for one boat. Went back to the boat and then to the little local restaurant on the cliff at the end of the beach and had a fabulous cheap meal and watched another gorgeous sunset.
Friday 21 Jan
Departed early and watched the most amazing sunrise – a big orange ball coming up out of the sea. We arrived at Tarutao around 3pm and anchored quite close in and went for a walk. The sandflies attacked Peter. Brett found a soccer ball (or two) washed up on the beach so we had a bit of a kick around then went for a swim to get rid of the sandflies. They stayed with Peter all the way back to the boat!!
Saturday 22 Jan
Left Tarutao and headed for Telaga in Malaysia but it was very crowded with boats and too shallow for spring tides so went to the beaches and nudged our way in and anchored in about 4m. Went ashore and had a look around and ended up eating at Raffi’s bar – best food and a lovely witty waiter named Aslan. There was a live band next door so we ended up there and had a wonderful time. When we came ashore it was low tide so took Bob up the beach and didn’t tie him off and by the time we got back to him – about 1.30am – the water was lapping at his heels!! A great night.
Sunday 23 Jan
Left the beaches around 11 and sailed around to Kuah. Peter checked us into Malaysia while Brett and I shopped. Dined at the local Chinese.
Monday 24 Jan
Saw Braveheart come in so went to say hullo. We did some shopping then met Braveheart to help them celebrate their 84th wedding anniversary – 42 years for Judy and 42 years for Chris!!
Tuesday 25 Jan
Left in a fair amount of breeze and headed back around to the beaches. Nudged in a little bit further and went into dinner at Raffis where Aslan greeted us all by name. A lovely evening.
Wednesday 26 Jan – Happy Australia Day
Headed back round to Telaga hoping to go up in the cable car. Anchored outside the anchorage, took Bob to shore and walked to the cable car, looked around then waited in line till it opened at 12. At 12 a notice went up to say that it was too windy and it wouldn’t be opening! So walked back to Bob and on the way back to the boat the outboard stopped. We thought we were going to have to row the rest of the way but we got it going again – it stopped about three times. Turned out to be dirty fuel but all fixed now. We arrived at Rebak marina and tied up to our berth, checked in, had a welcome shower and then had a slap up meal at the Hard Dock cafe.
Thursday 27 Jan
Brett finally got to go up the mast for Peter to fix a line. It was a little more exhilarating than he expected but he enjoyed the experience and got some good photos. We then caught the launch across to Langkawi, collected our hire car and found a chinese place to have some lunch. Then we took Brett to the airport for his trip home. We really enjoyed his company and I think he enjoyed his time with us – we know he really enjoyed the gastromic experience!!! He loves his food!
Friday 28 Jan – Sun 30th Jan
Started a clean up of the boat putting things where they actually go as we hadn’t had a chance to do that before and getting the boat cleaned and ship shape. Peter serviced the motor, the curtains went back up, the outboard was serviced. Dug our tv out from under the back bunk and worked out how we could install it – its been under the back bunk for almost two years!
Monday 31 Jan
Left Rebak and went back around to Kuah. Caught a taxi to collect our wine from the warehouse and ordered the beer from the jetty lady. Had a wonderful meal at the Asian restaurant and met some yachties who have been up here for some years – interesting people.
Tuesday 1 Feb
Went to town and bought a car stereo dvd / cd player and Peter installed the tv and dvd player and wired it all in so we don’t have wires hanging around everywhere. We did our shopping and found a shop selling cheap dvds. Ate on board and watched a dvd – The Sorcerers Apprentice – because we could!!
Wednesday 2 Feb – Happy Birthday Brett
Quiet boat day and a final shop for supplies.
Thursday 3 Feb
Checked out of Malaysia at 9.30 and headed to Telaga where we took on 300 litres of diesel – 690RM ($230) and headed for Tarutao. Uneventful sailing trip and anchored around 6pm. There was so much phospherence in the water. Saw five monkeys and a pig on the beach and a man camping in a tent in the bushes. Wind gusted very strongly through the night.
Friday 4 Feb
Left at 6.30am – it was just light. Had a good sail in the morning but by afternoon the wind had dropped off and we motored the rest of the way to Koh Muk arriving at 3.30pm. Went to our little restaurant on the hill for dinner. As the tide starting coming in small waves started breaking on the beach so left just on dark while we could still see the waves.
Well we have almost brought you up to date. We are at the stage where we need to do some serious cruising again. Heading up to the Burmese border and then out to the islands next week and trying to decide what we will do this year. The Eastern Malaysian rally is looking good at the moment. Quite a few boats are heading up through the Red Sea at the moment but that is something which is off our agenda. Anyway hope you all came through the cyclone ok. The weather here is coming good at last.
Take care
Dell and Peter
May the wind be always at your back
We got up at 6.30 and went into the beach for a walk. Lots of people sleeping on the beach but nice and quiet and lovely to see it without the crowds. Left at 9.15 and sailed along nicely with the main and headsail - we think we have gained at least 1 – 2 knots in speed since having the boat painted. The deck used to be a pale grey but now it is white and we cant believe the difference it makes – we can actually stand on it now without it burning our feet – its fantastic. The only downside is white tends to get a bit dirty!! Sailed to Ao Chalong , shopped and had dinner at Took’s new restaurant which was a bit embarrassing as it was obvious she wasn’t ready to open yet but cooked us up a good meal anyway.
Sunday 16 Jan
Boat cleaning day getting ready for the survey we have to have on the boat before our insurance company will insure us again. Our insurance company – Yacht Sure set us adrift before Christmas and refused to cover us till we had the survey despite the fact we had paid for a year’s cover. We managed to get the third party reinstated but only after Christmas as no-one was at work. Made us wonder how hard/easy it would be to get help and make a claim! Went to the Anchor Inn for dinner – really good food.
Monday 17 Jan
Brett and I caught the bus to Phuket town – the bus is an open sided truck - and Peter picked up the surveyor. The survey took four hours and went well then Peter checked us all out of Thailand. Meanwhile Brett went to the physio and then we had a lovely lunch. Brett had squid stuffed with pork which turned out to be very nice and we wished we had taken a photo! All back on board, the weather came up a bit so Peter cooked a slap up meal and we ate on board.
Tuesday 18 Jan
We left Ao Chalong in strong winds and larger seas than we had seen in a while. The boys were fine but I went below succumbing to seasickness! The angle of the wind brought us in to Phi Phi Le but there were no spare buoys so just as we were turning away one of the boats dropped a mooring and the boys couldn’t believe their luck and picked it up immediately. We went for a snorkel as conditions were finally perfect! We saw the biggest school of parrot fish with other kinds mixed in and it was a great snorkel and a lovely evening.
Wednesday 19 Jan
Left Phi Phi Le around 9 and anchored at Ko Lanta after 12. We went ashore and found our little bar and the people remembered us from when we were there with Debbie and Phil. We were offered some snake whisky – same snakes in the bottle – they just keep topping up the whisky and so unhygenic!!! We passed on the offer. Had a swim then back to the boat and back in again for dinner. Another pleasant evening on the beach!
Thursday 20 Jan
Motor sailed to Ko Muk and then took Bob around to the Emerald cave. We managed to catch it with hardly any tourists in there. Then we went around the little rocky cove and had a swim. We have never managed to anchor here as there is always a boat in there and it is really only big enough for one boat. Went back to the boat and then to the little local restaurant on the cliff at the end of the beach and had a fabulous cheap meal and watched another gorgeous sunset.
Friday 21 Jan
Departed early and watched the most amazing sunrise – a big orange ball coming up out of the sea. We arrived at Tarutao around 3pm and anchored quite close in and went for a walk. The sandflies attacked Peter. Brett found a soccer ball (or two) washed up on the beach so we had a bit of a kick around then went for a swim to get rid of the sandflies. They stayed with Peter all the way back to the boat!!
Saturday 22 Jan
Left Tarutao and headed for Telaga in Malaysia but it was very crowded with boats and too shallow for spring tides so went to the beaches and nudged our way in and anchored in about 4m. Went ashore and had a look around and ended up eating at Raffi’s bar – best food and a lovely witty waiter named Aslan. There was a live band next door so we ended up there and had a wonderful time. When we came ashore it was low tide so took Bob up the beach and didn’t tie him off and by the time we got back to him – about 1.30am – the water was lapping at his heels!! A great night.
Sunday 23 Jan
Left the beaches around 11 and sailed around to Kuah. Peter checked us into Malaysia while Brett and I shopped. Dined at the local Chinese.
Monday 24 Jan
Saw Braveheart come in so went to say hullo. We did some shopping then met Braveheart to help them celebrate their 84th wedding anniversary – 42 years for Judy and 42 years for Chris!!
Tuesday 25 Jan
Left in a fair amount of breeze and headed back around to the beaches. Nudged in a little bit further and went into dinner at Raffis where Aslan greeted us all by name. A lovely evening.
Wednesday 26 Jan – Happy Australia Day
Headed back round to Telaga hoping to go up in the cable car. Anchored outside the anchorage, took Bob to shore and walked to the cable car, looked around then waited in line till it opened at 12. At 12 a notice went up to say that it was too windy and it wouldn’t be opening! So walked back to Bob and on the way back to the boat the outboard stopped. We thought we were going to have to row the rest of the way but we got it going again – it stopped about three times. Turned out to be dirty fuel but all fixed now. We arrived at Rebak marina and tied up to our berth, checked in, had a welcome shower and then had a slap up meal at the Hard Dock cafe.
Thursday 27 Jan
Brett finally got to go up the mast for Peter to fix a line. It was a little more exhilarating than he expected but he enjoyed the experience and got some good photos. We then caught the launch across to Langkawi, collected our hire car and found a chinese place to have some lunch. Then we took Brett to the airport for his trip home. We really enjoyed his company and I think he enjoyed his time with us – we know he really enjoyed the gastromic experience!!! He loves his food!
Friday 28 Jan – Sun 30th Jan
Started a clean up of the boat putting things where they actually go as we hadn’t had a chance to do that before and getting the boat cleaned and ship shape. Peter serviced the motor, the curtains went back up, the outboard was serviced. Dug our tv out from under the back bunk and worked out how we could install it – its been under the back bunk for almost two years!
Monday 31 Jan
Left Rebak and went back around to Kuah. Caught a taxi to collect our wine from the warehouse and ordered the beer from the jetty lady. Had a wonderful meal at the Asian restaurant and met some yachties who have been up here for some years – interesting people.
Tuesday 1 Feb
Went to town and bought a car stereo dvd / cd player and Peter installed the tv and dvd player and wired it all in so we don’t have wires hanging around everywhere. We did our shopping and found a shop selling cheap dvds. Ate on board and watched a dvd – The Sorcerers Apprentice – because we could!!
Wednesday 2 Feb – Happy Birthday Brett
Quiet boat day and a final shop for supplies.
Thursday 3 Feb
Checked out of Malaysia at 9.30 and headed to Telaga where we took on 300 litres of diesel – 690RM ($230) and headed for Tarutao. Uneventful sailing trip and anchored around 6pm. There was so much phospherence in the water. Saw five monkeys and a pig on the beach and a man camping in a tent in the bushes. Wind gusted very strongly through the night.
Friday 4 Feb
Left at 6.30am – it was just light. Had a good sail in the morning but by afternoon the wind had dropped off and we motored the rest of the way to Koh Muk arriving at 3.30pm. Went to our little restaurant on the hill for dinner. As the tide starting coming in small waves started breaking on the beach so left just on dark while we could still see the waves.
Well we have almost brought you up to date. We are at the stage where we need to do some serious cruising again. Heading up to the Burmese border and then out to the islands next week and trying to decide what we will do this year. The Eastern Malaysian rally is looking good at the moment. Quite a few boats are heading up through the Red Sea at the moment but that is something which is off our agenda. Anyway hope you all came through the cyclone ok. The weather here is coming good at last.
Take care
Dell and Peter
May the wind be always at your back
Saturday, January 15, 2011
Thailand - New Year to 15 Jan
New Year
We went to shore at Patong with Cilantro, Bach & Byte and Single Malt and found a restaurant where we had a meal and then went down the happening street in Patong. The place was crowded and everyone was having fun. Bach & Byte went back to the boats to watch the fireworks from there but we all stayed and wandered around the various bars and had a lot of fun. Getting towards midnight we all headed down to the beach amongst the crowd and watched the fireworks go off – overhead. We were pleased we weren’t closer to the beach as the fireworks are not organised – just people letting them off and it went on for ages. There were hundreds of peace lanterns being let go into the sky as well and it was just amazing standing underneath the whole thing. The crowd was huge but very well behaved. When that was over we headed back up the happening street and didn’t get back to the boat till 4.30am!!! It was a new year celebration to remember.
After that we headed south as the wind had really come up and made our way around towards Phang Nha bay. The next day we went to Phanak and introduced Brett to the hongs and the very long scary tunnel into it. We timed the tides right and managed to see them all though the weather wasn’t all that good. Spent a couple of nights here then went to the gypsy village. We had intended to come back to Koh Hong and James Bond island but we never did make it back. Brett had his photo taken with a gibbon and there was a celebration going on at the school. We watched children in the water all hanging on to protruding sticks in the water in a net compound. Then about six ducks were thrown n and the children had to catch them (a bit like catch the greasy pig!!!). The poor ducks almost drowned as children holding them by the necks swam back to the boat!! It was however entertaining to watch (but not so much for the ducks). We took Bob (dinghy) and went and looked at the cave paintings just across from where we anchored. A longtail had previously offered to take us there and around for an hour for 1200 baht ($40!!!!).
Sunday 9 Jan
Left around 10am and stopped at lunch time at a place we hadn’t managed to anchor at and took Bob around to look at the hong and were going to swim until we saw the sea lice and made a hasty retreat. The weather improved and the seas were calm when we anchored at Ko Pak Bia – one of our favourite places. We had a snorkel but the visibility was bad so went back to the boat and watched people set up for a wedding and then watched a lovely beach wedding. They left it a bit late to leave and the boat used all its engines to get off the beach throwing a wall of water into the air back on to the beach. Half the people had to get off the boat so they could get it out and we think they may have burned out an engine! Had a good night playing texas holdem. I went out early but Brett and Peter went on till the early hours of the morning accompanied by Captain Morgan! until Brett managed to beat his father.
Monday 10 Jan
Went over to Koh Hong Krabi and got a buoy. Brett and Peter took Bob to see the hong and to go around the island then we went ashore where we got charged 200bht each for landing on the island (national park). We did the nature walk and had a swim. There were lots of little fish and one bit me on the back of the leg! We stayed the night as Brett wanted to see the beach in the morning without the crowds.
Tuesday 11 Jan
Hearing dreadful news from home about the floods. Went to shore next morning. A big cruise ship turned up and also we could see lots of sound equipment on the beach. The big ship moved to the other side of the island out of view of the beach as it turned out they were doing a bollywood movie!! We weren’t allowed on that part of the beach. The tide was way out so we left and headed to Krabi. There were so many people on the beach you could hardly walk along it. A few longtail boats had set themselves up as floating snackbars which was a good idea. We headed around to the rock climbing beach and went ashore and found a bar with good ambience and settled for an hour or two listening to good music. Changed for dinner and had the best cheapest food at Mamas up the alley. We walked up the road and discovered there were more bars and bungalows along the road. Came back to the beach and spent a couple of hours at the Chill Out reggae bar listening to a live performer.
Wednesday 12 Jan
Dreadful news from home about the floods – feeling we should be there but there’s nothing we could really do. Headed off towards Phi Phi Don and were going past the Bamboo Island when we saw a buoy so grabbed it and went ashore to a beautiful white beach and an area was cordoned off for snorkelling. There were plenty of fish and I saw my first snake!! Black and white bands. I lost sight of it and next thing Brett dives down to look at something and looks up to see the snake coming towards him on one side and a moray eel on the other!! He back pedalled very quickly!! We then headed for Klang reef but there were no buoys though we nudged our noses in and I let us go in a bit too far but a quick port turn and we got out ok!! Headed to Phi Phi Don and went in to dinner and for a look around.
Thursday 13 Jan
We headed back round to Klang reef and anchored in 17.5m and took Bob in and snorkelled the reef for an hour. Then we headed around Phi Phi Don and stopped at a nice bay and went ashore but there was nothing of interest so headed to Phi Phi Le getting there at 4.30 but there was no chance of getting a buoy so headed back to Phi Phi Don where we could see a storm approaching. Stayed onboard as it was raining and quite windy.
Friday 14 Jan
Moved anchor as we were too close to a dive boat on a buoy then we went to shore to see if we could get a longtail. Found one which left at 9am (this was 8.45am). There were 14 people onboard and we went to a beach just near where we were anchored where there were a couple of monkeys, one of which took someone’s water bottle, took the lid off and drank from it. Went to the beach at Phi Phi Le (where the movie the beach was made) and it was so crowded!! We walked across to the other side of the island – stayed an hour till the longtail left and then went round the other side of the island to snorkel. The fish were great, the only worry being hit by a longtail or another boat!! Then went to a lovely long hong and had a swim – it was absolutely beautiful and a place that we would not have been able to see in our boat. It was a great morning out and very good value. We left late in the afternoon to see if we could get a buoy in Phi Phi Le and just as we got there a big cat released one so we grabbed it – couldn’t believe our luck. Quite swelly and water murky. There was quite a party on the beach that night with the sleep on the beach tour group – they were still doing fire twirling at 12.30am!
Will bring you up to date shortly, meanwhile our thoughts are with you all at home with the devastating floods and we hope you all manage to avoid that incredibly frightening cyclone which is bearing down on Queensland tonight.
Much Love
Dell and Peter
We went to shore at Patong with Cilantro, Bach & Byte and Single Malt and found a restaurant where we had a meal and then went down the happening street in Patong. The place was crowded and everyone was having fun. Bach & Byte went back to the boats to watch the fireworks from there but we all stayed and wandered around the various bars and had a lot of fun. Getting towards midnight we all headed down to the beach amongst the crowd and watched the fireworks go off – overhead. We were pleased we weren’t closer to the beach as the fireworks are not organised – just people letting them off and it went on for ages. There were hundreds of peace lanterns being let go into the sky as well and it was just amazing standing underneath the whole thing. The crowd was huge but very well behaved. When that was over we headed back up the happening street and didn’t get back to the boat till 4.30am!!! It was a new year celebration to remember.
After that we headed south as the wind had really come up and made our way around towards Phang Nha bay. The next day we went to Phanak and introduced Brett to the hongs and the very long scary tunnel into it. We timed the tides right and managed to see them all though the weather wasn’t all that good. Spent a couple of nights here then went to the gypsy village. We had intended to come back to Koh Hong and James Bond island but we never did make it back. Brett had his photo taken with a gibbon and there was a celebration going on at the school. We watched children in the water all hanging on to protruding sticks in the water in a net compound. Then about six ducks were thrown n and the children had to catch them (a bit like catch the greasy pig!!!). The poor ducks almost drowned as children holding them by the necks swam back to the boat!! It was however entertaining to watch (but not so much for the ducks). We took Bob (dinghy) and went and looked at the cave paintings just across from where we anchored. A longtail had previously offered to take us there and around for an hour for 1200 baht ($40!!!!).
Sunday 9 Jan
Left around 10am and stopped at lunch time at a place we hadn’t managed to anchor at and took Bob around to look at the hong and were going to swim until we saw the sea lice and made a hasty retreat. The weather improved and the seas were calm when we anchored at Ko Pak Bia – one of our favourite places. We had a snorkel but the visibility was bad so went back to the boat and watched people set up for a wedding and then watched a lovely beach wedding. They left it a bit late to leave and the boat used all its engines to get off the beach throwing a wall of water into the air back on to the beach. Half the people had to get off the boat so they could get it out and we think they may have burned out an engine! Had a good night playing texas holdem. I went out early but Brett and Peter went on till the early hours of the morning accompanied by Captain Morgan! until Brett managed to beat his father.
Monday 10 Jan
Went over to Koh Hong Krabi and got a buoy. Brett and Peter took Bob to see the hong and to go around the island then we went ashore where we got charged 200bht each for landing on the island (national park). We did the nature walk and had a swim. There were lots of little fish and one bit me on the back of the leg! We stayed the night as Brett wanted to see the beach in the morning without the crowds.
Tuesday 11 Jan
Hearing dreadful news from home about the floods. Went to shore next morning. A big cruise ship turned up and also we could see lots of sound equipment on the beach. The big ship moved to the other side of the island out of view of the beach as it turned out they were doing a bollywood movie!! We weren’t allowed on that part of the beach. The tide was way out so we left and headed to Krabi. There were so many people on the beach you could hardly walk along it. A few longtail boats had set themselves up as floating snackbars which was a good idea. We headed around to the rock climbing beach and went ashore and found a bar with good ambience and settled for an hour or two listening to good music. Changed for dinner and had the best cheapest food at Mamas up the alley. We walked up the road and discovered there were more bars and bungalows along the road. Came back to the beach and spent a couple of hours at the Chill Out reggae bar listening to a live performer.
Wednesday 12 Jan
Dreadful news from home about the floods – feeling we should be there but there’s nothing we could really do. Headed off towards Phi Phi Don and were going past the Bamboo Island when we saw a buoy so grabbed it and went ashore to a beautiful white beach and an area was cordoned off for snorkelling. There were plenty of fish and I saw my first snake!! Black and white bands. I lost sight of it and next thing Brett dives down to look at something and looks up to see the snake coming towards him on one side and a moray eel on the other!! He back pedalled very quickly!! We then headed for Klang reef but there were no buoys though we nudged our noses in and I let us go in a bit too far but a quick port turn and we got out ok!! Headed to Phi Phi Don and went in to dinner and for a look around.
Thursday 13 Jan
We headed back round to Klang reef and anchored in 17.5m and took Bob in and snorkelled the reef for an hour. Then we headed around Phi Phi Don and stopped at a nice bay and went ashore but there was nothing of interest so headed to Phi Phi Le getting there at 4.30 but there was no chance of getting a buoy so headed back to Phi Phi Don where we could see a storm approaching. Stayed onboard as it was raining and quite windy.
Friday 14 Jan
Moved anchor as we were too close to a dive boat on a buoy then we went to shore to see if we could get a longtail. Found one which left at 9am (this was 8.45am). There were 14 people onboard and we went to a beach just near where we were anchored where there were a couple of monkeys, one of which took someone’s water bottle, took the lid off and drank from it. Went to the beach at Phi Phi Le (where the movie the beach was made) and it was so crowded!! We walked across to the other side of the island – stayed an hour till the longtail left and then went round the other side of the island to snorkel. The fish were great, the only worry being hit by a longtail or another boat!! Then went to a lovely long hong and had a swim – it was absolutely beautiful and a place that we would not have been able to see in our boat. It was a great morning out and very good value. We left late in the afternoon to see if we could get a buoy in Phi Phi Le and just as we got there a big cat released one so we grabbed it – couldn’t believe our luck. Quite swelly and water murky. There was quite a party on the beach that night with the sleep on the beach tour group – they were still doing fire twirling at 12.30am!
Will bring you up to date shortly, meanwhile our thoughts are with you all at home with the devastating floods and we hope you all manage to avoid that incredibly frightening cyclone which is bearing down on Queensland tonight.
Much Love
Dell and Peter
Thursday, December 30, 2010
Happy New Year – Happy Birthday Amy! - 28 Nov – 29 Dec
The good news is we managed to get back on the water by Christmas! We had a few little dramas along the way such as our 22 month old sail which Peter had stored under our boat was eaten by rats – looked like one of those paper doll cutouts and we were pretty devastated. But a lovely chap named Ket managed to patch it up beautifully for a small sum of money and that made us pretty happy. Brett arrived on the 3rd and stayed a couple of nights and then took himself off to a couple of islands on the eastern side of Thailand – Ko Tao where he gained his advanced open water scuba diving licence and then to Ko Phangan for the full moon party which he described as epic!!!!
The Tuesday before Christmas we were pretty despondent as work on our boat was going so slowly so had a word with Mr Samran and he pulled a lot of people on to our boat and things started forging ahead although with only one week to go till the 21st no-one thought we would make it and we weren’t sure! We stayed two extra nights in our unit and the boys worked overtime and a few corners were cut – the mast went back on the 20th and Peter worked till midnight the next two nights putting the boat back together and I packed up the unit and hired a ute to move all the gear back. Peter was pulling the chain out from under the boat that we had Bob (our new tender) attached by and nearly pulled one of the things holding the boat out! Chom laughed his head off. The 23rd – Amy’s birthday – at 10am saw the travel lift come to collect us and we were in the water (with paint still wet!!! )with the pilot and off by 12 noon. We were very happy to have the pilot as the way was narrow and snaked around via pylons but not clearly marked. We headed down to Nai Harn and anchored beside Cilantro in the afternoon followed in by Whistle Down the Wind – quite a reunion. We headed in to shore in the evening to have dinner and collect Brett who was making his way down to meet us when we saw a very big wave come up behind us and Bob was totally flipped. One minute I was sitting in the tender and the next I was on my back totally under water!! We managed to get Bob upright and the crew of Sailmaker came to give a hand. Brett found us very wet in the restaurant and we all had dinner before having to make our way back out again. The motor wouldn’t start so James (Cilantro) helped swim us past the breakers and we were able to row out without incident. Peter stripped the engine the next morning and it was good – hadn’t been under for very long. The next night we went to another beach with Single Malt, Whistle Down the Wind and Cilantro to go up the Cape for sunset and dinner. As we came in Cilantro went almost over and James came out of their tender, however somehow Sandra came back down and was still seated so got in ok but when I saw them go I bailed and then got knocked down by the wave and the boys rode it up nicely in Bob and didn’t get wet. Once again a very wet night though the boys did buy me some new clothes!!! Apart from that it was a lovely night.
Christmas morning was a lovely day and we had our Christmas tree and then had a sausage on bread for lunch then met Cilantro at 4.30 – went ashore at the beach via the rocks which was much safer and started a restaurant crawl which went till 11.30pm being joined by Whistle half way through so it was a really nice evening but nothing traditional about it and friends and family missed!
Another tender got rolled this day and others tied their tenders to the swimming buoys and a few of them got rolled so all in all it was difficult landing at Nai Harn this year!!! We headed up the coast and had a couple of nights at Kamala Beach – went out the first night and then went up to Nai Yang where Cilantro joined us and we had a lovely night out. We are currently at Patong Beach on the northern side where it is quieter and will stay here for New Year and then head around into Phang Nha bay.
Hoping you all had a lovely Christmas and the New Year is kind to you.
Much Love
May the wind be always at your back
Dell and Peter
The Tuesday before Christmas we were pretty despondent as work on our boat was going so slowly so had a word with Mr Samran and he pulled a lot of people on to our boat and things started forging ahead although with only one week to go till the 21st no-one thought we would make it and we weren’t sure! We stayed two extra nights in our unit and the boys worked overtime and a few corners were cut – the mast went back on the 20th and Peter worked till midnight the next two nights putting the boat back together and I packed up the unit and hired a ute to move all the gear back. Peter was pulling the chain out from under the boat that we had Bob (our new tender) attached by and nearly pulled one of the things holding the boat out! Chom laughed his head off. The 23rd – Amy’s birthday – at 10am saw the travel lift come to collect us and we were in the water (with paint still wet!!! )with the pilot and off by 12 noon. We were very happy to have the pilot as the way was narrow and snaked around via pylons but not clearly marked. We headed down to Nai Harn and anchored beside Cilantro in the afternoon followed in by Whistle Down the Wind – quite a reunion. We headed in to shore in the evening to have dinner and collect Brett who was making his way down to meet us when we saw a very big wave come up behind us and Bob was totally flipped. One minute I was sitting in the tender and the next I was on my back totally under water!! We managed to get Bob upright and the crew of Sailmaker came to give a hand. Brett found us very wet in the restaurant and we all had dinner before having to make our way back out again. The motor wouldn’t start so James (Cilantro) helped swim us past the breakers and we were able to row out without incident. Peter stripped the engine the next morning and it was good – hadn’t been under for very long. The next night we went to another beach with Single Malt, Whistle Down the Wind and Cilantro to go up the Cape for sunset and dinner. As we came in Cilantro went almost over and James came out of their tender, however somehow Sandra came back down and was still seated so got in ok but when I saw them go I bailed and then got knocked down by the wave and the boys rode it up nicely in Bob and didn’t get wet. Once again a very wet night though the boys did buy me some new clothes!!! Apart from that it was a lovely night.
Christmas morning was a lovely day and we had our Christmas tree and then had a sausage on bread for lunch then met Cilantro at 4.30 – went ashore at the beach via the rocks which was much safer and started a restaurant crawl which went till 11.30pm being joined by Whistle half way through so it was a really nice evening but nothing traditional about it and friends and family missed!
Another tender got rolled this day and others tied their tenders to the swimming buoys and a few of them got rolled so all in all it was difficult landing at Nai Harn this year!!! We headed up the coast and had a couple of nights at Kamala Beach – went out the first night and then went up to Nai Yang where Cilantro joined us and we had a lovely night out. We are currently at Patong Beach on the northern side where it is quieter and will stay here for New Year and then head around into Phang Nha bay.
Hoping you all had a lovely Christmas and the New Year is kind to you.
Much Love
May the wind be always at your back
Dell and Peter
Monday, November 29, 2010
Phuket Boat Lagoon – Sat 27 Nov 2010
My last missive was from Renmark and that already seems so long ago. Rosie and I made it through to Burra. We had a wonderful trip together and while it was wonderful to see the Thomas’ again it was tinged with sadness at the thought of once again having to leave my beautiful little Rosie. The trip made me feel that I would really like to do a road trip to Perth in the not too distant future – its on the list!!!
Andy, Robyn and Katie dropped me at the airport on Sunday 14th and I stayed at a lovely hotel near the airport in Melbourne and flew out to Kuala Lumpar on Monday 15th. Suffice to say it was a long and tedious trip exacerbated by the fact that there was absolutely no wine on board and after a huge delay while we located our plane (Gate 8, gate 4 then we found it at gate 7!) that wasn’t helpful! Arrived at KL about 2 hours late and my bag was about the last one off the plane so ran upstairs to get the connecting flight to Phuket which turned out to be a lovely hour and ten minutes with bags already there when we got off and no customs and straight through. Peter had only just arrived!
Peter had done a lovely thing and organised a surprise belated birthday party for me (it was a big one – 60 - can you believe it!!!) for Tuesday night. I thought we were just going out to dinner the two of us and when we got there Geoff, May and their daughter Ruth off Wave Sweeper were there and James and Sandra from Cilantro and Bryan off Kristie 1 so that was a huge surprise. Peter had organised all the food and asked them to get a birthday cake which turned out to be a Svenson ice cream cake – so yummy. So everyone by all accounts had a wonderful time.
While I had been working my tail feathers off in Brisbane Peter had been doing it pretty tough in Boat Lagoon staying on the boat climbing over all the stuff from the shed (back of boat) every night to get to bed. He had to pull off all the fittings on deck and the mast was removed. We are out for a full paint but they found more rust than we anticipated and Peter had the entire toe rail cut off and stainless soldered back on. Then they found a big hole in the steel above the companionway hatch and that had to be cut out which meant that the ceiling had to come down and all in all the boat is a huge mess. Peter had to sit inside the boat when they were grinding to put out any spot fires which started in the paint so he had a pretty tough time. Then he went to book a unit for us only to find that there weren’t any available until the 21st. One of the Kiwis took pity on him and let us have his unit while he was away which was a lifesaver!! We moved into a lovely unit overlooking the marina on the 21st ($580/mth) so are well ensconced in the air conditioning! – At least I am – Peter is over at the boat working. They have made us both honorary Samran workers and given us both a Samran work jumper – Peter at least has earned his. Yesterday when I went over he had the jumper on, the breathing apparatus on and the rag tied around his head and the only way you could tell it was him was by the pants!!! I had tried to do some sanding but the carpenters came after me and redid it so there is really not a lot I can do at the moment. My time will come when we have to clean up the inside.
Peter is desperately trying to move things along as it looked as though we were going to be stuck here for Christmas but should get out the week before. Boats can only leave here on high tides as the channel is not dredged and is very shallow and there are only a couple of opportunities with the tide over the next few weeks. The boys are all working very hard though and work is progressing well. They are a lovely bunch and although there is not much English spoken they all have a huge sense of humour.
Our new tender was delivered a few days ago – a rib which has a hard bottom and he has been named Bob (thanks Phil). We have his name here ready to go on when we dig him out from under the tarp where he is hiding from all the paint and dust.
We have been eating out every night – the food is fantastic and we really look forward to Brett arriving on the 3rd December. Cilantro left Friday – went out at 12 o’clock on a 2.8 metre tide. They reported that they went down to 0m but didn’t touch bottom! When I left the unit at 11.20 I saw a movement out of the corner of my eye behind the pile of sheets which had been taken out of the rooms and next thing a metre + long snake took off and headed to the units on the other side (we are on the third floor!!). Extremely disconcerting!!!!!
Peter and Bryan did a visa run last week. A minibus picked them up at 10.15pm on Sunday night along with 6 other people and they drove through the night to Penang in Malaysia, dropped their passports off at the Embassy, had a night in a lovely hotel, collected their passports at 2pm on Monday and were back here at 10.30 Monday night. All meals were included and they thought it was pretty good value for $150. Peter now has another two months on his visa.
The Freedom III came in last week pretty well patched up all over the front of her. She was the huge cat which hit the other boat in the tsunami. The boys were telling us how huge the wave was. Couldnt imagine seeing a boat of that size bearing down on you as well as the huge wave – terrifying stuff.
Anyway work continues. I will try to do something with the photos soon. Hope this finds you all well.
Much Love
May the wind be always at your back
Dell and Peter
Andy, Robyn and Katie dropped me at the airport on Sunday 14th and I stayed at a lovely hotel near the airport in Melbourne and flew out to Kuala Lumpar on Monday 15th. Suffice to say it was a long and tedious trip exacerbated by the fact that there was absolutely no wine on board and after a huge delay while we located our plane (Gate 8, gate 4 then we found it at gate 7!) that wasn’t helpful! Arrived at KL about 2 hours late and my bag was about the last one off the plane so ran upstairs to get the connecting flight to Phuket which turned out to be a lovely hour and ten minutes with bags already there when we got off and no customs and straight through. Peter had only just arrived!
Peter had done a lovely thing and organised a surprise belated birthday party for me (it was a big one – 60 - can you believe it!!!) for Tuesday night. I thought we were just going out to dinner the two of us and when we got there Geoff, May and their daughter Ruth off Wave Sweeper were there and James and Sandra from Cilantro and Bryan off Kristie 1 so that was a huge surprise. Peter had organised all the food and asked them to get a birthday cake which turned out to be a Svenson ice cream cake – so yummy. So everyone by all accounts had a wonderful time.
While I had been working my tail feathers off in Brisbane Peter had been doing it pretty tough in Boat Lagoon staying on the boat climbing over all the stuff from the shed (back of boat) every night to get to bed. He had to pull off all the fittings on deck and the mast was removed. We are out for a full paint but they found more rust than we anticipated and Peter had the entire toe rail cut off and stainless soldered back on. Then they found a big hole in the steel above the companionway hatch and that had to be cut out which meant that the ceiling had to come down and all in all the boat is a huge mess. Peter had to sit inside the boat when they were grinding to put out any spot fires which started in the paint so he had a pretty tough time. Then he went to book a unit for us only to find that there weren’t any available until the 21st. One of the Kiwis took pity on him and let us have his unit while he was away which was a lifesaver!! We moved into a lovely unit overlooking the marina on the 21st ($580/mth) so are well ensconced in the air conditioning! – At least I am – Peter is over at the boat working. They have made us both honorary Samran workers and given us both a Samran work jumper – Peter at least has earned his. Yesterday when I went over he had the jumper on, the breathing apparatus on and the rag tied around his head and the only way you could tell it was him was by the pants!!! I had tried to do some sanding but the carpenters came after me and redid it so there is really not a lot I can do at the moment. My time will come when we have to clean up the inside.
Peter is desperately trying to move things along as it looked as though we were going to be stuck here for Christmas but should get out the week before. Boats can only leave here on high tides as the channel is not dredged and is very shallow and there are only a couple of opportunities with the tide over the next few weeks. The boys are all working very hard though and work is progressing well. They are a lovely bunch and although there is not much English spoken they all have a huge sense of humour.
Our new tender was delivered a few days ago – a rib which has a hard bottom and he has been named Bob (thanks Phil). We have his name here ready to go on when we dig him out from under the tarp where he is hiding from all the paint and dust.
We have been eating out every night – the food is fantastic and we really look forward to Brett arriving on the 3rd December. Cilantro left Friday – went out at 12 o’clock on a 2.8 metre tide. They reported that they went down to 0m but didn’t touch bottom! When I left the unit at 11.20 I saw a movement out of the corner of my eye behind the pile of sheets which had been taken out of the rooms and next thing a metre + long snake took off and headed to the units on the other side (we are on the third floor!!). Extremely disconcerting!!!!!
Peter and Bryan did a visa run last week. A minibus picked them up at 10.15pm on Sunday night along with 6 other people and they drove through the night to Penang in Malaysia, dropped their passports off at the Embassy, had a night in a lovely hotel, collected their passports at 2pm on Monday and were back here at 10.30 Monday night. All meals were included and they thought it was pretty good value for $150. Peter now has another two months on his visa.
The Freedom III came in last week pretty well patched up all over the front of her. She was the huge cat which hit the other boat in the tsunami. The boys were telling us how huge the wave was. Couldnt imagine seeing a boat of that size bearing down on you as well as the huge wave – terrifying stuff.
Anyway work continues. I will try to do something with the photos soon. Hope this finds you all well.
Much Love
May the wind be always at your back
Dell and Peter
Wednesday, November 10, 2010
On the road again!!!!
To all those people wondering if we are ok yes we are and to all those people we did not manage to catch up with many apologies. We flew back into Australia on 4th August and collected our car and Rosie from Andy and Robyn in South Australia. Drove home via Sydney to see the kids and then it was home and a whole lot of work. Peter worked on the house and we managed to get a bit of babysitting in with our beautiful grandchildren. Peter flew back to Langkawi on 19 September to take the boat single handed to Phuket to haul out to do some work on her. Following is an email I had from Peter:
Well what a day. We were delayed by one day as Brian snapped his throttle cable. Went into town and luckily sourced a new one and had it installed by 3.30pm. We departed Rebak at 7.30 and made our way to Telaga so Brian could get fuel. When we left there we were half way up the west side of Langkawi when I started taking on water, lots of it. Checked all the hoses on the motor but eventually found that water was gushing in at the propellor shaft seal. Had the big electric bilge pump going and also the hand bilge pump and made the 2 hours back to the marina. Tim off Raven gave me a hand as it was still gushing in tied up to the dock and the travel lift wasn't working today. Found the cause and fixed it. The two grommet screws which hold the pressure ring against the shaft seal had worked loose and the ring moved up the prop shaft separating it from the seal and allowing lots of water in. Eventually fixed it, phew and left Rebak at 1.15. Going the clappers to get to the anchorage before dark when Brian broke a fan belt. He eventually installed a new one and we got into the anchorage at 7.00pm, still light. Brian just called and he has cooked his batteries, they are smoking. Have to wait for them to cool down before he tries to find the problem. Hope tommorrow is a better day.
Well he finally made it and put the boat up on the hard only to discover that we had a heck of a lot more rust than we ever knew! So Peter has been working super hard on the boat at times holding the fire extinguisher to make sure none of the sparks from the grinding etc caught the boat alight. He has been living aboard among the dust and the grime. They have to use water when they are grinding and this turns to a nasty sludge in the boat. Anyway grinding has finished and Peter has cleaned out the sludge - a huge job by all accounts and now they can start on the original job of painting the boat - obviously a bit behind schedule and a blow out on the budget!!
I have been working very hard on our house getting ready for new tenants and also moving all our furniture from one storage facility to another one - financially it was worth it but it was a huge job. Many thanks to Darren, Stuart and Brett for all the help. Couldnt have done it without you all. It was so lovely to be surrounded by all our wonderful family. Will miss you all terribly especially little Jessie (such a wonderful little boy - missing your cuddles) and little Charlie (such a happy cheeky little girl).
I am currently writing this in Renmark - Rosie and I have been on a road trip to drive to Andy's. Finally finished packing the house up on Thursday night and stayed with Stuart - what a relief to finally be finished. Friday night was with Judy in Yamba and then Saturday drove all day in the rain to Sydney so stayed Sunday as well. We camped at Narrandera and then last night at Renmark and today we make Andy and Robyn's. I fly to Melbourne on Sunday 14th and on Monday 15th will be back in Phuket to inspect all the work!!!
Anyway time to get back on the road again
Cheers
Dell
>
Well what a day. We were delayed by one day as Brian snapped his throttle cable. Went into town and luckily sourced a new one and had it installed by 3.30pm. We departed Rebak at 7.30 and made our way to Telaga so Brian could get fuel. When we left there we were half way up the west side of Langkawi when I started taking on water, lots of it. Checked all the hoses on the motor but eventually found that water was gushing in at the propellor shaft seal. Had the big electric bilge pump going and also the hand bilge pump and made the 2 hours back to the marina. Tim off Raven gave me a hand as it was still gushing in tied up to the dock and the travel lift wasn't working today. Found the cause and fixed it. The two grommet screws which hold the pressure ring against the shaft seal had worked loose and the ring moved up the prop shaft separating it from the seal and allowing lots of water in. Eventually fixed it, phew and left Rebak at 1.15. Going the clappers to get to the anchorage before dark when Brian broke a fan belt. He eventually installed a new one and we got into the anchorage at 7.00pm, still light. Brian just called and he has cooked his batteries, they are smoking. Have to wait for them to cool down before he tries to find the problem. Hope tommorrow is a better day.
Well he finally made it and put the boat up on the hard only to discover that we had a heck of a lot more rust than we ever knew! So Peter has been working super hard on the boat at times holding the fire extinguisher to make sure none of the sparks from the grinding etc caught the boat alight. He has been living aboard among the dust and the grime. They have to use water when they are grinding and this turns to a nasty sludge in the boat. Anyway grinding has finished and Peter has cleaned out the sludge - a huge job by all accounts and now they can start on the original job of painting the boat - obviously a bit behind schedule and a blow out on the budget!!
I have been working very hard on our house getting ready for new tenants and also moving all our furniture from one storage facility to another one - financially it was worth it but it was a huge job. Many thanks to Darren, Stuart and Brett for all the help. Couldnt have done it without you all. It was so lovely to be surrounded by all our wonderful family. Will miss you all terribly especially little Jessie (such a wonderful little boy - missing your cuddles) and little Charlie (such a happy cheeky little girl).
I am currently writing this in Renmark - Rosie and I have been on a road trip to drive to Andy's. Finally finished packing the house up on Thursday night and stayed with Stuart - what a relief to finally be finished. Friday night was with Judy in Yamba and then Saturday drove all day in the rain to Sydney so stayed Sunday as well. We camped at Narrandera and then last night at Renmark and today we make Andy and Robyn's. I fly to Melbourne on Sunday 14th and on Monday 15th will be back in Phuket to inspect all the work!!!
Anyway time to get back on the road again
Cheers
Dell
>
Wednesday, August 4, 2010
And back again
Happy Birthday Stuart for the 17th
Well we arrived at Alor Setar in Malaysia with Peter still taking panadol to keep his temperature down and Dell still scratching very sore ankles, caught the ferry back to Langkawi – slept all the way and finally made it back to the boat and were very happy to see Cilantro who were very concerned at the state of our health! On the Sunday night Peter’s temperature peaked at 103.4 and I was having to put wet tablecloths on him to try to bring it down. The whites of his eyes were also a sort of red colour. The next day Peter felt better and his temperature was back to normal (after a week) and we had hired a car with Cilantro to do some shopping so we dropped Peter off at the hospital on the way to town thinking we would pick him up on the way back. But when we went back to get him we found that he had been admitted and was on a drip and having blood tests taken! It turned out he had hemorrhagic dengue fever. (remember that little trip in Siem Reap – we think that’s where he got bitten – it is a day time mosquito). He had eight bags of IV saline drips and had blood tests taken every six hours and was told that if he bled from the gums, nose, ears etc to let them know immediately as he could also bleed internally. His blood platelettes continued to drop for a day or so and he was told that if they went down too far he would need a blood transfusion. As you can imagine it was a scarey few days – he was in there for 4 days and James and Sandra of Cilantro were a tower of strength for me and we were so grateful for their support – thanks heaps guys!! By the way the entire bill for all the treatment and four days in hospital came to around $155 AUS!! And the care was extremely good. And the good news is Peter cant get that particular dengue again! The Health Department came out to the marina and fogged the area for mosquitos and even fogged down the arm where our boat is!!
Also in the hospital was a young married man who 15 days earlier had been spat on by a King Cobra (not bitten – spat on his arm and leg) and he was in a very bad way and seemed to be going down hill. They were going to evacuate him to Alor Setar on the mainland. We hope he made it.
Anyway we are both all better now and flew out of Langkawi on the 4th of August and are currently in Mt Bryan in South Australia with Andy and Robyn. We will then take our little Rosie for a road trip and visit home for a while. We will have a slow drive to Sydney to catch up with Debbie and Brett and then head north to Yamba and then finally home to meet our newest grandchild and also to do cleaning and repairs on our very badly managed house. So to contact us just call Peter’s mobile and we will hope to catch up with you all very soon.
Happy Birthday Margaret for the 8th!
Much love
Happy to be home – its freezing but at least we have stopped sweating!!!
Happy Trails and Calm Seas
Dell and Peter
Friday, July 16, 2010
Cambodia to Bangkok 10 July to 16 July
Saturday 10 July – Phnom Penh – Siem Reap
We were collected by minibus at 7.15 and taken to the big bus and left at 8am. The landscape is extremely flat and in some places looked like outback Australia. It was dry and boring interspersed with rice paddies and villages and towns. We arrived around 2pm and as the bus entered the depot they closed a gate behind which kept all the touts out so we weren’t inundated with accommodation touts and tuk tuk drivers. We got a lovely young man named Longdy who took us to town in his tuk tuk for $1US each. He took us to a guesthouse of his choice but we didn’t like the location so he took us to another one but it was on a main road so we went back to the first one and got the room for $8 instead of $10 and as it turned out it was in the perfect spot. The currency is Reil but all the ATMs give out American dollars. We arranged for Longdy to collect us in his tuk tuk tomorrow. We walked around town, went to the night market and ate at the local food markets for $1 each. Except Peter accidentally ordered two bowls of soup so we gave one to a tuk tuk driver. Bought a couple of books off a man with no legs. He had been a soldier fighting for the communists and trod on a mine in 1990 when he was just 24.
Sunday 11 July – Siem Reap
Longdy collected us in his tuk tuk at 8am and we headed off to Ankor Wat. We had the most amazing day – the temples are incredible. The first port of call was Angkor Wat itself. We walked across a long causeway across the moat and looked at a few buildings in the grounds then into the temple itself. We took an hour or two here and then Longdy took us to Angkor Thom. The second temple was amazing. At first glance it looks like a jumbly pile of rocks all piled up on top of each other then you see the faces in the rocks. The carved murals are in quite good condition and really interesting. The temple had three levels and we explored the whole place – it was amazing. We saw the Elephant wall and the Lepers Wall. It was extremely hot but the exploring was amazing. The one with the faces and the one with the trees were our favourites. The one with the trees had been left overgrown and in a state of disrepair and you could walk in and out all over the place. Longdy told us that in high season it gets so crowded it takes 4 hrs just to see Angkor Wat and we saw so many temples. Near one of the temples we followed a track through the bush (remember this moment!) and found the North gate which had a pretty good garuda in the corner. Most of the statues and buddhas have lost their heads – destroyed or plundered. There are lots of children around the temples all trying to sell little nik naks and are very persistent. They all speak excellent English and when you tell them where you are from they immediately start reciting facts about your country including Julia Gillard being the PM which as you know was a very recent change but they had it down pat! Longdy then took us back the way we had come so we could see all the places we had visited. A slow tuk tuk ride back to town finished off a truly wonderful day. We went down Pub Street and had some 50 cent beers and a meal. Bought the amputee (from whom we bought the books) a beer and had a chat. He is 44 and was 24 when he lost his legs. He was in the army for 9 years and gets a $45/month pension and supplements that by selling books. (A good few of the books including Lonely Planets are all good photocopies and not originals).
Monday 12 July – Siem Reap
Had a late start to the day – made enquiries about a bus to the infamous Thai/Cambodian border – our guest house charged $10 but the bus company was $7 then $8 so we decided to go with the guesthouse as he said we get a sticker to walk across the border and then get in a big VIP bus with a toilet. We walked around town and did some shopping. Met a fellow who asked us if we could speak English and asked us what swamp meant. Turned out it was a good ploy to get a conversation going so he could ask for money for books for his orphanage! We still don’t know if there was an orphanage or not as everything is just photocopies. We gave him $1 – we laughed about this with Cilantro as they also got pulled up and their word was meadow and they gave him $2!!! When we were eating at the night market we saw a person going along the street on their bottom so asked the waiter if they needed a feed. He went and got this person who turned out to be a little old lady who couldn’t walk so we bought her a meal ($1!!) and she was so thrilled to be sitting up on a seat there. We gave her another dollar for another meal and got a takeaway for a man we had seen on the footpath. We couldn’t wake him up so just left it beside him but we found out later that he is a hopeless drunk and the next morning when we drove past him he was still asleep with three unopened meals beside him. Very sad.
Tuesday 13 July – Siem Reap, Cambodia to Bangkok, Thailand
Happy third birthday Jessie
The minibus came to collect us to take us to the big bus but a Russian couple reckoned they had paid for their meal but the guesthouse owner said not so they wouldn’t let the bus go. We sat in the heat while a very heated discussion ensued ending in nasty insults from the Russians who eventually paid – around $7! We then went to the big bus which was a ¾ bus. Because we had requested specific seats (11 & 12!) we were put on the bus first then all the bags were piled up behind the back seat then the rest of the passengers got on and luggage was piled up the aisle and we left around 8.30am. It was around 150 Kms to the border and we had two stops in that time. Got to the border around 11.30. Got our stickers and walked across the border – no problems. Then we were shoved in the back of a troop carrier and taken to the ‘big’ bus which wasn’t VIP and didn’t have a toilet! It was an uneventful trip with one loo stop requested and another stop to fill with gas – we were all told to get off the bus and we didn’t know why so all refused! Then we realised they couldn’t fill the bus with gas with us on board. We finally got into Bangkok around 7pm (it should have been around a 5 hr trip). A rather longer trip than it should have been. The bus dropped us in the middle of the tourist area and we walked up the road and found a guesthouse and then went for a walk. It seemed to be a pretty happening place. We ate at a table in the street.
We have to say that we really loved Cambodia and her people and would definitely go back again. All the kids seemed to be in schools and English was widely spoken. They have certainly come a long way in the last thirty years and you really wonder how they all survived and how they are so happy.
Wednesday 14 July – Bangkok
Dell’s ankles are completely rashed and swollen. Walked around then met a plain clothes policeman who told us that today was the last day of a Government subsidy to tuk tuks. For 5 baht each we could have a tuk tuk for the day to see all the Wats. We saw two then we went to the gem centre then as a favour to the tuk tuk driver to the tailor which was ridiculous and then to another gem centre. Then it started pouring rain and he wanted us to go somewhere else as a favour and we said no and got him to drop us back. Sat in a bar in the street near our guesthouse and watched the world go by. Motorbikes riding on the footpath and they all seem to target Dell!!!!
Thursday 15 July – Bangkok
Caught a taxi to the station to book our tickets for the train. Unfortunately they only had upper bunks left. We then walked to China town but Dell’s ankles were itchy and sore and Peter started feeling unwell so we went to the shopping centres which weren’t up to much but were air conditioned. We then walked all the way back and down a street which had nothing but guns and ammunition for sale. Then Peter went back to the room to lie down and Dell went to buy a couple of shirts. Peter had a temperature of 102.4 so got some drugs from the chemist. We went out to dinner then to bed. (Remember that little walk through the bush in Siem Reap??!!)
Friday 16 July – Bangkok – overnight train
Dell did some shopping, Peter not too well. Were out of the room by 12 noon and sat in the guesthouse till 1.15 then caught a taxi to the station. Went to our little restaurant with the litre jugs of beer and had lunch. And then it was on the train and off for an uneventful trip.
Friday, July 9, 2010
Laos and Cambodia - Saturday 3 July to Friday 9 July
Saturday 3 July – Pakse, Laos to Phnom Penh, Cambodia
Decided to hire a bike and go to the Bolavan Plateau. Packed the necessaries into one pack and stored the other where we hired the bike and by 10am were riding out of town. Once we left the main road there wasn’t much traffic. We stopped at a waterfall, treehouse resort and ethnic village. The village was very interesting but we felt it was a bit staged. Continued up the road past some interesting villages. We love the way the pigs just wander about then it got a bit boring and we were both thinking this isn’t much when we came to the turnoff to the village of Tad Lo which is gorgeous. There was a magnificent 100m wide waterfall falling about 7 metres. We stopped at a backpackers just over the bridge and the room was gorgeous – all tiles and clean with a balcony overlooking the river but the beds were boards – so hard. We checked and there was a mattress there – we thought later maybe they had put it on upside down because they sleep on the floor on sleeping mats and maybe wouldn’t realise it is supposed to be a bit soft!! Continued up the road and saw a sign for Palamie Guesthouse and a man came out to greet us. He had one rattan room and three wooden rooms without bathrooms and two brand new rooms – beautiful wood and brick only four months old and the bed was soft and had a mosquito net over it. It had a big verandah overlooking rice paddies and pigs wandering around. A lovely bathroom with hot water – huge room. We didn’t need the fan as it was cool enough. Par who runs (and built it) used to work at the Lodge up the road. He speaks English and was born in this village as were his mother and grandparents. Lovely chap with a wife and two children. It poured rain just as we got there so our timing was impeccable. Walked through the village and had a look around then found a little restaurant in another Guesthouse and had a lovely meal. What a beautiful place!!
Sunday 4 July – Tad Lo to Attapeu
The morning started realising why so many roosters end up cooked on sticks in the market!! Seriously, it was brilliant – cows out the front, we fed our pineapple scraps to the huge pig then packed up and went back to Tims for breakfast. At Tims the barbeque was half a bomb (all American), the pot plant holder was a whole bomb and the vase was an artillery shell nicely decorated with lots of littled drilled holes!! We were sitting watching the pigs and piglets, dog under the table and cat on the chair and on our laps eating banana pancakes when an elephant went past!! Stopped on a dime when the mahout realised we wanted a photo – just skidded to a stop! We headed back up to a big waterfall but as we went past an extremely poor, muddy looking village a couple of the kids yelled out waterfall and pointed up through their extremely muddy village. We could see a slight trickle over a big rock cliff so decided to give it a miss. Apparently the hydro electric people let water go in the evening. Even when we went past the waterfalls which were so beautiful yesterday the water flow appeared to have diminished. We arrived at the turnoff to where we wanted to go about 1.30 but it was 70 odd kms of dirt so we opted to continue to Attapeu and go back up again tomorrow. We did 185km today and it was long, hot and hard on the bot! A change of scenery down here – this is the most bombed area of Laos. Saw a fellow with a motorbike and trailer and he had found a huge part of an exploded bomb – chased him down and took his photo. We stopped at a Government place that does the Unexploded Ordinance clearance and they had some bits and pieces of bombs. Arrived at the capital of Attapeu Province around 3.30pm and found a lovely guesthouse then went to a bar on the river. We watched young girls eating fried crickets dipped in sauce. Had a rest – it was a long hot ride then headed to the noodle bar. We got a beer and they seemed happy to have us and put the fan and tv on for us then they disappeared. About 5.30 we asked if we could eat but apparently Papa was in the shower then suddenly he appears outside soaking wet taking our order and telling his wife what we wanted – hilarious. They do noodle dishes so Peter had the noodle soup and Dell had the fried noodle. They have promised us a great breakfast tomorrow and laughed their heads off when we asked if they would be out of the shower!! People like this make it all worth while!! Just an aside – no one in Laos seems to wear sunglasses.
Monday 5 July – Attapeu to Pakse
Had breakfast at Papas – he was doing a roaring trade – cooked us a lovely omelette and baguettes with cheese and jam and croissants. He was very happy we came back. Left about 8 and had an uneventful journey back about 47k to the turnoff to the dirt road. Stopped to take a photo of the water buffalos all sitting in a big puddle of water – really like the water buffalo. The dirt road was a very good road and Peter really enjoyed the ride. Saw a squirrel and an eagle. Found the big waterfall. The volume of water going over was amazing and it was extremely high. For a while it felt like riding through the jungle but tractors were clearing both sides of the road which took some of the ambience away! We rode right over the Bolavan Plateau through some villages and a town. Were grateful when we got back on to the bitumen as our butts were very sore. We stopped at two more waterfalls one of which was quite stunning – you could clamber down steps to the bottom – beautiful. We arrived back in Pakse around 3, found a different guesthouse, returned the bike, retrieved our packs and booked the bus to cross the Cambodian border tomorrow and went back to the Indian restaurant for a lovely meal.
One thing we noticed about Laos was that there seemed to be quite a few schools – quite shabby looking but they didn’t seem to be used. We didn’t really see any school children and not a lot of people spoke English.
CAMBODIA
Tuesday 6 July – Pakse to Kratie Cambodia
We were collected from our guesthouse at 7.50 after a lovely breakfast Peter bought in the market for practically nothing. The minibus fooled us as it had lovely leather seats and four of us in it but it delivered us to a crap minibus which already had 7 people in and Peter’s seat had no back. After a couple of hours we dropped people off and five of us went on to the border. We had heard terrible things about the border. When we went to check out of Laos a young French bloke was doing a lot of yelling. The Laos Immigration wanted $2US per passport bribe. The French guy gave me some change and we all paid $1US. Then we had to walk across the border and went to Health who wanted $1US but we all said no. Then we went to get our visa. We had been told it was $23US so we paid it (it is really $20 but they have always charged $23 here). The French guy was doing a lot of yelling – very brave or very silly as he was dealing with the military. Immigration then wanted $1US each so we gave them 20,000 kip which just about used up all our kip – it is useless out of the country as no one will change it. They put five of us in a minibus and we went to the next big town – Stung Treng and then we had to get out of the minibus and they finally let us on the big bus!! Arrived at Kratie at 2pm after a lunch stop – there were some stalls which were selling the fried crickets but also fried tarantulas!! With all their legs still intact! We walked around the corner to a guest house and then went out for a walk. Kratie is on the river so walked along there and through the large market which was across the road. We then went to a local restaurant with a lovely family and had a beer with ice and were just thinking how nice it would be to have some nibblies when the chef cooked us up some finger food and gave it to us for free so we decided to have dinner there and they cooked us up a lovely meal. The family were watching a soapie on tv and it was so funny to watch their reactions to the sad bits and tragic bits and funny bits!! People really are the same all over!
Wednesday 7 July – Kratie to Phnom Penh
We caught the 8am bus after having bought some baguettes in the local market . The landscape was amazingly flat with heaps of rice paddies. We noticed lots of brickworks as we were coming into Phnom Penh – most of them didn’t seem to be working. We went over a big bridge and the bus dropped us in the middle of the city – quite a busy city. We decided to walk to find a guesthouse and the tuk tuk drivers were polite and left us alone when they realised we didn’t want one. The traffic was chaotic and we had a bit of trouble with the traffic coming from the left but just when you get used to that a bike or two will go up the road the wrong way. We walked around looked at guesthouses but finally settled on The Spring which was Lonely Planet’s choice and this time they got it right. We took a fan room on the 5th floor for $6US. It was quite a walk up but a lovely room. Went out for a walk and ate dinner in the local market.
Thursday 8 July - Phnom Penh
It was so hot through the night that we decided to move to an air conditioned room on the 1st floor for $10US a night. We started our day with a visit to the Toul Sleng Genocide Museum (S.21). Over 17,000 people were tortured and killed in this place by The Pol Pot regime. It used to be a school. Suffice to say that it was rather overpowering and we decided not to watch the film and not to visit the killing fields. How this was allowed to happen is beyond us and why it happened is a question that 30 years later the Cambodian people still don’t know the answer to and no-one has ever been punished (we heard a couple of weeks later that the bloke that ran Toul Sleng got 30 years but will be out in 19!). A couple of top people in the Khymer Rouge were arrested in 2007 – Pol Pot died of old age. The UN has a lot to answer for in this and Australia also supported Pol Pot for a time. We then went to the Russian market which was huge. We bought a few things then took a tuk tuk to the river area and had lunch then walked to another market where Dell bought a pair of second hand Oasic sandles for $16US. We were wondering if people nicked them from outside temples!! Back to our room then out for dinner. They have big beasts (cows) on huge spits outside some restaurants. We went into one of these and got a jug of draught beer for 6,800 reil ($1.70) but their menu wasn’t in English so we ordered one dish – marinated meat, chips and egg then went up the road to where the menu was in English and had a lovely meal.
Friday 9 July – Phnom Penh
Happy Birthday Carol
The women wear their pyjamas – they are think they are trouser suits but they are PJs!!! - even have little bears and lovehearts or are floral. When we dropped the laundry off they had a dish full of skinned frogs on sticks sitting out the front in the sun! Walked the city looking at the sights and in the afternoon went to the palace. We wandered the palace grounds and went into a few temples. One had a 95kg solid gold Buddha with hundreds of diamonds. There were lots of gold dishes, small buddhas etc and we wondered about the lack of security but I guess no one would touch a Buddha. Went back to our guesthouse and booked the bus for tomorrow then caught a tuk tuk to the river area and found a wonderful little restaurant called Bojangles and had the best meal. We really like the Cambodian food – very different flavours. A few of the beggars came back to us a few times through the day and by evening we were saying we already gave to you and they laughed and acknowledged. We really enjoyed Phnom Penh.
Friday, July 2, 2010
LAOS - Monday 28 June to Friday 2 July – Vang Vieng to Pakse
Monday 28 June – Vang Vieng
Happy Anniversary to us – 35 years!!
Well we didn’t sleep too badly despite the noise from the island. It poured rain all night and looks as though it has set in for the day. We are watching the river flow by and a fisherman upstream with a net at the end of some bamboo poles standing in the river fishing. Decided the river was far too muddy to do the tubing (floating down the river with the current in a rubber tractor tube past lots of bars). Our guesthouse owner found a snake in his house eating a frog. He took the snake out and then took the frog out. We talked to an Aussie who said he had been to Angkor Wat and it was just a bunch of old buildings way past their used by date!!! Philistine!!!! A young Brit we met said he had been working at the bucket bar and three Irish lads came in. The young Brit had contracted red eye (conjunctivitus) so instead of shaking hands they were all touching elbows. He was looking the worse for wear and really needed to get out but was having trouble leaving! We went for a meal then decided to see what the Bucket Bar was about. The buckets were free for an hour – they held about 1 – 1½ litres of lao whiskey and coke, fresh lime with a straw. Everyone drinks from a plastic bucket – sat around on a built up platform watching the soccer, listening to the very loud music and chatting to our young Brit and Irish friends. Our bucket lasted us the entire time we were there so it was a cheap night. When we left our young Brit friend was up dancing and looked as though he was going to be stuck for another day – hope he gets out soon! Poured rain on the way back across the little bridge to our room.
Tuesday 29 June – Vang Vieng to Vientiane
Happy Birthday Yvette
Left in sprinkling rain after admiring the wonderful view from our room again. Took a tuk tuk to the bus station. The bus left at 7am and was pretty old but we had the windows open and it was only 30,000 kip each - $4.40. The tuk tuk cost 20,000 kip to go 3km. From Vang Vieng to Vientiane was around 170km. It started off a little bit windy and a couple of the locals had to get out their barf bags. The bus was only half full. The terrain then went flat with lots of rice paddies. They have a kind of tractor thing with long handles which they walk behind to plough with and on the road they put a cart behind to sit on and steer via the long handles. There were lots of little towns and villages along the way. There are a couple of major roads but when you get off them everything is dirt. All the houses in the villages have swept dirt around them, not grass. We arrived at Vientiane, the capital city of Laos, at about 11am. Took us a while to find a guest house but found a very nice room for 90,000 kip ($13). You really notice the French influence here – baguettes the principal sandwich and bread. The old French houses, some in a state of disrepair look great. There are lots of Wats (Buddhist temple complexes). A long avenue much like the Champes Elysees with an Oriental Arch de Triumphe at one end and the Presidential Palace at the other. The place was ransacked and basically destroyed in 1828 so the majority of the place was built after this period. There are a lot of huge expensive buildings and a lot of building going on. We walked around for the afternoon and had dinner and an early night.
Wednesday 30 June – Vientiane to Tha Khaek
Left our guesthouse early and walked back to the bus station and caught a local bus to the main bus station. Got there at 7.30 - an air/con bus – and got our seats and our baguettes and the bus left at 8am sharp and drove around the corner and stopped for 20 minutes while all sorts of people got on trying to flog off food. The bus was chock a block full. The scenery is very rural with lots of villages along the way and rice paddies – lots of rice paddies. They throw the seeds into one or two paddies and they sprout very thickly. When this has grown enough they pick it and put into little bunches and then plant it one plant at a time. Very labour intensive. A lady had a chicken under her coat and took it out to feed it. People kept getting on and the bus got quite crowded with kids doubling up and then a couple of stools appeared in the aisle. One lady was nursing her baby and one lady was nursing her dog! After about 3 hours there was the obligatory loo stop – ladies behind a big tree and men along the edge of the road. Just as we were coming into the bus station we saw two buses which had had a head on collision - where both drivers had been was all smashed in and the whole left hand side of both buses had been sideswiped. Confirmed our plan to sit on the right hand side – seats 11 and 12 looked good! Arrived at 2pm and took a tuk tuk to the Travel Lodge Guesthouse as recommended by Lonely Plant but were not impressed at the bare cement floor and inflated price so walked to the tourist office and then found a good big room at Pouhkanna guesthouse. There was one thing about Labuan Prabang we didn’t mention and that was all the street venders cooking chickens – whole chooks, bits of chooks etc – you would hardly credit there would be enough chooks in the country to keep up this supply!!!!
Thursday 1 July – Tha Khaek
Happy Birthday Jeremy
Woke to pouring rain but it was nice to be able to sleep in. Had a slow start to the day (much needed). We found Tha Khaek to be a lovely laid back town. We walked along the Mekong River admiring the decaying French buildings. The water fountain in the middle of town didn’t work and the town just had a lovely feel about it. We only saw one other white person through the day. We went to the markets and walked back out to the bus station to check the times. It was a lovely walk through the country and the people were really friendly. The people don’t seem to care if you buy anything or stay at accommodation – if you do, you do but they don’t seem to care. Walked for miles and went back to the river for a beer. Peter got a beer out of the fridge and rattled around but couldn’t get the girl to wake up so put it back and went down the road to where the proprietor was awake!! We could see Thailand across the river and it looked more affluent but having said that there is certainly some money in town. There are a lot of beautiful big houses – some huge and Government buildings and the vehicles are new Lexus and Toyoto diesel 4 wheel drives. Saw the World Vision office and it wasn’t too shabby either – three storeys. We ate the most delicious dinner at our guesthouse restaurant – best since we have been in Laos – served by three of the loveliest young girls. They could only bring one thing at a time. First the beer, then the glasses and finally the bucket of ice – yes ice. They drink their beer with ice and its really nice. This service could take 5 or 10 minutes but no-one minds – there is plenty of time. There were two other pairs of backpackers in and then 4 NZ/Aussie blokes turned up who clear unexploded ordinance in Laos and Cambodia so the power grid can go through. For the adventurous here there are caves and waterfalls and treks but we just had the loveliest day. Fell asleep to the sounds of very loud very bad karaoke!!
Friday 2 July – Tha Khaek to Pakse
Had our morning tea & coffee with our trusty little kettle – what a good buy that has been. We walked to the bus station leaving at 7 and got there around 7.40 in time to catch the 8.30 bus to Pakse. We stuffed around for a bit and next thing the bus started up so we dived on and our 8.30 bus left at 5 to 8! And holy moly this bus driver was in a hurry! He turned the air con off we think so he could go faster and passed everything in sight blowing his horn all the while. Two other backpackers were on the left front seat behind the driver – we were glad we weren’t there! The conductor was putting luggage in and hadn’t even closed the luggage door when the bus took off and he had to run to jump in the door. The first loo stop was a quick dive in the bushes – we presume everyone made it back on the bus. Second stop no time for modesty – quick dive into the bushes and the horn is blowing to get back on. This driver was in such a hurry! Apart from that the scenery was fantastic – so rurally rustic. The bus was supposed to stop at a big town Savahnakat but he offloaded those people going there onto an already overcrowded troop carrier truck – we were pleased we weren’t going there. The area was quite populated with villages all along the road. Houses range from opulent to lovely to wooden to huts – the whole spectrum. Australia and Japan seem to have put quite a bit of money into this country. The countryside is flat with loads of rice paddies, some in use, some overgrown. The middle part seemed to be in drought as there wasn’t much water around and then there was heaps of water. It is weird seeing so many water buffalo. We don’t know what their use is (food??!!) as they are not used in the fields – they use the hand push tractor things. There have been wandering cows, pigs, goats, turkeys, geese – a real rural menagerie. Most of the chooks seem to be on sticks in the market! (cooked). For a while we could hear chickens chirping on the bus – a man had three in a little cage. The bus driver slowed down when he nearly hit a cow! No it was because the speed limit went to 30 kph! We were supposed to go to the Pakse bus station but we pulled up and the driver told us and the other European couple this was our stop so we grabbed all our things and got off into a waiting tuk tuk which had two monks and two European girls already in. The other girl went to climb in next to the monk and a look of horror crossed his face. We had to stop her and sit her on the opposite side – women are not allowed to touch monks. On a bus a monk will sit on the back seat so we are not allowed to sit there. Anyway they threw our backpacks in on top of us and off we went about 6k to the centre of town. We found a place to stay close to the river – it was pretty basic and the mattress was lumpy. Ate at the Indian restaurant – very good food.
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